If I could put my hand on the north star, would it be as beautiful? The sea is lovely, but when we bathe in it the beauty forsakesall the near water. For the imagination and senses cannot be gratified at the same time.

To a dull mind all of nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.

It is true that genius takes its rise out of the mountains of rectitude; that all beauty and power which men covet are somehow born out of that Alpine district; that any extraordinary degree of beauty in man or woman involves a moral charm.

What is it men love in Genius, but its infinite hope, which degrades all it has done? Genius counts all its miracles poor and short. Its own idea it never executed.

Being perfectly well-dressed gives a feeling of tranquillity that religion is powerless to bestow.

The tempered light of the woods is like a perpetual morning.

The manly part is to do with might and main what you can do.